Kirk’s visit in September was dynamic and impactful. Many activists and students came out to Portsmouth Public Library, Plymouth State University, and Southern NH University to watch his movie and to engage in lively question-and-answer sessions. Kirk talked about the state of our criminal justice system, the problems with eyewitness identification, bad legal defense, prosecutorial bias, junk science being used to convict the innocent, and many other related issues.

Kirk’s overall message was, “You can’t climb over the execution of the innocent to get to the satisfaction of killing those who kill others.” Few can speak about this with such authenticity and authority as Kirk does. Kirk also spoke about his work with Witness to Innocence and efforts underway in other states such as Nebraska (overturning legislative repeal via referendum) and California (two opposite ballot initiatives).

At the SNHU event we were fortunate also to have present a friend of Kirk’s and fellow DNA exoneree, Dennis Maher, who spent 19 years in prison before being released from a life sentence in Massachusetts for rapes he did not commit. Dennis’s story was no less powerful. You can read more about him here: http://www.innocenceproject.org/cases/dennis-maher/.

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